I'll Never Forget About You, I Promise
by musicormisery4105
Summary: AU Lit. Rory Gilmore & Jess Mariano met when they were ten but after a year in Stars Hollow, Jess is suddenly sent back to New York. Rory and Jess are now seventeen, and haven't seen each other for seven years. Will things pick up where they left off?
1. Good Things Happen When It Snows

**--I'll Never Forget About You, I Promise—**

**Summery:** Rory & Jess meet when they are 10. Jess runs away to stay with Luke in Stars Hallow after him and his mom, Liz have a fight about one of her horrible boyfriends. While Jess is in Stars Hallow he meets Rory Gilmore and her mother, Lorelai Gilmore, along with the rest of the quirky town. After staying for almost a year Liz wants Jess to come back to New York because she has "cleaned up her act". Rory & Jess miss each other very much after Jess leaves and they never forget about eachother but they don't hear or talk to one another for 7 years. Liz sends Jess back to Stars Hallow when he is 17. What is going to happen, that's for me to know and you to find out.

**Disclaimer**I do not own anything in this story except the plot (I might add my own characters later if necessary though.) If I did I wish I owned Milo and made him go back on the show as Jess and he and Rory would have gotten back together but sadly, I don't.

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**Prologue****- **_**Good Things Happen When It Snows**_

Ten year old Jess Mariano steps off the bus and sets foot in an unfamiliar town full of unfamiliar faces. It's almost the end of November and it's chilly in Stars Hallow, as a cold winds swipes through the town he pulls his jacket closer to him. He looks up at the sky and notices that maybe it will snow. He never really got to see snow that wasn't all muddy and everything like it was in New York. He stops thinking about snow and watches as a lady with bright red hair and colorful robes leans over and whispers something to a shorter lady with blonde hair. Jess looks away form the two and tries to find Luke's diner. That's where his uncle works, well actually he owns the diner. He spots it after a few minutes of looking and walks with his duffle bag to the diner. He opens the door and the minute he steps foot in the diner everyone stares at him. He finally spots his uncle in his usual flannel at the counter with a lady who is holding up a coffee cup begging for coffee. He goes and sits down a few stools down form the lady and puts his bag by his feet and waits for his uncle to notice him. After a few minutes Luke does and walks up to him.

"What can I get ya?" he asks without looking up from his ordering pad.

"Uncle Luke…"Jess asks.

Luke looks down at the kid, he has messy dark hair and mysterious dark eyes and soon Luke recognizes him as his nephew Jess Mariano.

"Jess?" Luke asks Jess. Jess nods and then Luke continues. "What are you doing here? Where is your mom?"

"She's…she's not here. I ran away." Jess tells his uncle.

Luke stares in disbelief at his nephew. The coffee lady who had been sitting at the counter staring at the coffee maker like if she stared at it enough the coffee would magically appear in her cup, walks over to Luke and Jess.

"Not now Lorelai!" Luke says as she starts to walk over.

Lorelai pouts and says, "Luke but the coffee."

"Not now." Luke growls. "Why?"

"What do you mean why; coffee is the elixir of life." Lorelai replies not realizing he was actually talking to Jess.

"Lorelai, I'm talking to him." Luke says pointing to Jess. "Why?"

"Huh?" Jess asks totally confused.

"Why did you come here?"

"I…she…her boyfriend…he, he, he's mean and he yells and he tries to hit us and…" Jess whispers only loud enough for Luke and Lorelai to hear.

"So you came here?" Luke asks.

"Yeah." Jess answers.

Luke nods and thinks a moment then replies with, "Well, you are welcome here for as long as you want. Go put your stuff upstairs and get settled and later we will call your mom and let her know that you are here and then we will go shopping for stuff."

"You…shopping?" Lorelai starts laughing hysterically.

"I don't have an extra bed. He needs a bed Lorelai." Luke says.

"Okay well I just can't picture you shopping." Lorelai laughs.

"Well if YOU'RE so good at it why don't you come with us." Luke challenges.

"Ooooh goodie! Shopping trip!" Lorelai says excitedly.

"Jess go ahead upstairs, just go up the stairs and go to the door that's at the top and open it. That's the apartment. For now we don't have an extra bed so you will have to stay on the couch. Is that okay?" Luke asks and Jess nods. "And, well, when you're done come back down." Luke instructs Jess. Jess nods and head up the stairs.

Lorelai sits back down at the counter. "So who's the kid?"

"My nephew." Luke explains.

"You have a nephew?" Lorelai asks surprised.

"Yes it's my sister's son." Luke answers.

"You have a SISTER?" Lorelai says even more surprised.

"Yes…" Luke says in an annoyed tone.

"Wow, its true you do learn something everyday."

"SO why is he here?" Lorelai asks.

"You heard him, he ran away from Liz." Luke tells her.

"Liz?"

"My sister, jeez Lorelai keep up!"

"Sorry, so he ran away from Liz because of her boyfriend problem or whatever."

"Exactly."

"Well are you going to call her and let her know her kid is alright? If Rory ever ran away I would be flipping out." Lorelai rambles.

"Liz isn't you but I guess I should call." Luke says moving towards the phone but Lorelai stops his quickly.

"Coffee!" Lorelai cries.

"Fine." Luke says and refills her cup and then moves to the phone and dials the number and talks to Liz for a while before finally hanging up and going back to Lorelai who is happily sipping her coffee.

"She said that she will ship his stuff on Friday." Luke says.

"It's Saturday."

"I know that Lorelai."

"I hope he brought enough to last him a week."

"Lorelai the kid isn't dumb I'm sure he brought enough and if not were going shopping today so I'm sure you will find plenty of stuff for him." Luke says.

"True." Lorelai stops and thinks. "He should meet Rory."

"Yeah, they are the same age aren't they."

"Well how old is Jess?"

"10, I think."

"Perfect. So is Rory." Lorelai says happily.

"Yeah." Luke replies just as Jess walks down the stairs with a book and his jacket around him.

"Luke is alright if I go outside for a while and read?" he asks his uncle.

"Sure Jess. Just be back before it gets to dark, its really cold here at night." Luke tells him. Jess nods and starts out the door once he is gone Lorelai says, "His names Jess?"

"Yea did I not mention that?"

"Nope."

"Oh well now I did."

"Yep…coffee." she demands and he obeys reluctantly. "That stuff will kill you." He says.

"We all have to go someday." Lorelai replies back with a large smile on her face. Luke watches her as she happily drinks her coffee, he would do anything for that woman. No matter what.

-**xxx**-

Jess is walks aimlessly around town for a while before his feet finally lead him to an old bridge a little ways away from the bustling town and away from all the staring people. He didn't know what it was about him but people sure liked to stare. He sits down at the end of the bridge above the frozen water and looks over the lake. After taking in his surroundings for a while he pulls out his copy of _Howl_ and starts to read.

Little does he know he is being watched from a distance by 10-year-old, Rory Gilmore. After watching for a few minutes she finally gets the nerve to approach him and quietly makes her way to the end of the bridge where he appears to be lost in his book. A sudden gust of cold wind makes its way across the lake and hits the bridge full-force. Rory shivers and pulls her coat tighter around her and keeps walking towards him.

Its cold, almost the end of November and Jess is wishing her would have brought a better coat with him. As a gust of cold wind hits him he senses another presence. He turns his head to see a shy looking girl with caramel brown hair and bright blue eyes that is clutching a book in her hands walking towards him.

"Hi." she says as she quietly sits down beside him.

"Hi." he replies.

She smiles at him and looks at his book, "_Howl_? That's a good book. Actually one of my favorites." she says.

"Yeah mine too." Jess says quietly. "So what are you reading?"

She hands him the book and he smirks as he reads the title of the book.

"_Oliver Twist_." he reads out loud.

"Yeah it's good. Have you ever read it?"

"Hundreds of times. It's a favorite."

"Mine too." she says happily. "My names Rory."

"Jess." he replies.

"I haven't seen you before. Are you new?" Rory asks him.

"Kinda. My mom and I had an argument about her horrible boyfriend and I ran away and I came her to stay with my uncle."

"Who's that?"

"Well aren't we being nosey." he says.

"I…sorry…I didn't mean…" she says as a blush creeps up on her cheeks.

"It's fine. Actually it's Luke Danes."

"Coffee Man!" she says happily.

Jess gives her a look of utter confusion.

"Oh yea I'm a Gilmore and we Gilmore's are coffee addicts." Rory explains.

"Lorelai…" Jess starts.

"What about my mom?"

"That explains it." Jess says.

"Explains what?"

"I met your mom in the diner. She was begging for coffee and staring at the coffee making like if she concentrated hard enough it would magically appear in her cup."

"That's my mom." Rory smiles. "Your uncle makes the best coffee in the world."

"Huh." Jess says.

"He's the coffee god."

"Cool."

"I swear."

"Nice to know."

"I know."

Suddenly Rory feels a wetness on her cheek and looks up at the sky and sees snowflakes slowly falling down. She smiles and leans back on the frozen planks of the bridge. After a little bit Jess joins her by lying down on the bridge next to her. They sit on the bridge staring at one another lying shoulder to shoulder.

"What are you doing?" he finally asks after looking at her for a while, trying to memorize her.

"Watching the snow." she answers simply also staring back at him trying to memorize him.

"Why?"

Rory pauses a minute and then smiles and replies softly, "Good things happen when it snows."

First Jess looks at Rory like she is off her rocker and then Rory grins and Jess finds her smile contagious and grins back. They lay like that for a while longer before Jess finally realizes what Rory was getting at. She was implying that meeting him was a good thing and that they could be good friends. At that moment Rory leans her head on his shoulder and when she does Jess puts his arm around her back and they continue to just stare at the sky and eachother.

-**xxx**-

_(Almost a year later- Beginning of August)_

Jess and Rory have known eachother for a long time, almost a year and have become almost inseparable but Jess just got a phone call from his mother telling him that he had to come home and go back to school. His mother had supposable "cleaned up her act" and it was a good thing for him to come back to New York. The problem was that Jess didn't want to leave. He loved Rory, more that just a friend or a sister or anything. He realized he had a crush on her and was afraid if he left he would never see her again. He didn't know that Rory had the same exact feelings for him.

Its Jess's last day in Stars Hallow. He is getting ready to leave in an hour and he and Rory are sitting quietly on the bridge. Rory with her head on his shoulder and Jess holding his arms around her tight.

"Did you say goodbye to Lane?" Rory asks him.

"Yes." He answers.

"Mrs. Patty?"

"Unfortunately."

"Babette and Morey?"

"Yes."

"Taylor?"

"God no."

"Why not?"

"He will find out eventually. He might even throw a party."

"Well that's Taylor for you." Rory laughs. "My mom?"

"Yes but she will probably be at the diner when I got and get the rest of my stuff so I've got that covered."

"Kirk?"

"Why would I say bye to Kirk."

"I have no idea, just asking thought."

"Alright. Next?"

"Gipsy? Al? Joe?"

"Yes, yes and yes." Jess answers.

"I think that's everyone." Rory says.

"Yea I think so too."

"I don't want you to leave." Rory cries into his chest.

"I don't want to leave either Rory." Jess says as he burries his head in her hair with tears threatening to fall.

"What if a never see you again."

"You will."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"And you won't forget me."

"I could never forget you Rory."

"I could never forget you either Jess."

"I love you Rory." Jess tells her after a few minutes of silence.

"I love you too Jess." Rory says.

Jess kisses Rory ontop of the head and moves to kiss her cheek but she moves her head and he kisses her on the lips.

Jess and Rory smile at eachother after they pull away.

"I'll miss you." Jess tells her.

"I'll miss you too." Rory cries, tears falling down her face again.

Jess smiles at her and wipes the tears off of her face and pulls two things out of his pocket and hands them to her.

Rory looks at the items and smiles, "It's your copy of _Howl _and your _The Clash_ CD!"

"Keep them."

"Always."

"When you see them think about me."

"I will."

Jess hugs Rory one last time and then they say goodbye and Jess leaves to go to the diner to grab his stuff to get on the bus. Rory hugs the items her gave her close to her heard as she cries again.

"I love you Jess…" she says quietly.

She gets up off the bridge and slowly walks to her house with her items in hand. On the way it starts to rain. She walks around town for a while and after 15 minutes she finally decides to go home. She opens the front door and her mom is waiting for her on the couch. Rory drops the book and CD on the table by the door and runs into her mothers arms crying, "I love him, I love him so much. I don't want him to leave…"

"Shhh, I know sweets." Lorelai says comforting her daughter who is sobbing and shaking all over.

"What if I never see him again?"

"You will."

"That's what he said."

"He's right. It's not the end of the world. You will see eachother again."

"What if he forgets about me?!" Rory wails.

"He won't."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay."

"So…pizza and ice-cream?"

"Cheese and extra chocolate chip."

"On the pizza!?" Lorelai asks looking at her daughter like she has two heads.

Rory rolls her eyes and then replies, "No! Cheese for the pizza and extra chocolate chip ice-cream."

"Oh alright sweets."

Rory spends the rest of the night on the couch wondering about Jess. Little does she know that he is doing the same thing.

-**xxx**-

I hope you like it. It's my first FanFic, that I've actually posted and let the world see. Reviews would be great. Thanks!


	2. It's Only Been Seven Years

**AN: ****Thanks so much for the awesome reviews you guys have sent! I'm glad you like the story so much. I was nice and decided to put up a new chapter today and I hope you guys like it! Anyways so here it is )**

**-musicormisery4105**

**-xxx-**

**Chapter 1- **_**Its only been 7 years since you last saw me…**_

Rory and Lorelai are sitting at the counter of Luke's discussing nothing in particular when the phone rings. Luke goes to answer it. After a while of listening and arguing Luke hangs up.

"Who was that?" Rory asks.

"Nobody." Luke answers grouchily.

"Okay, just wondering." Rory said.

"Yea." Luke says before he walks off.

"Okay, that was weird." Lorelai says.

"Yea I know." Rory answers.

"What do you think he's up to?" Lorelai asks.

"I don't know." Rory tells her.

"Planning to take over the world?" Lorelai jokes.

"Mom, that's YOU'RE evil plan." Rory says giggling while she tells her mother this.

"Right." Lorelai says, laughing along with her daughter.

"It's probably nothing." Rory tells her mom, trying to forget all about it.

"Yea you're right." Lorelai says with a tone of uncertainty in her voice.

"Okay, well I have to get to school." Rory says. "Bye mom." she says as she kisses her mom on the cheek.

"Bye offspring!" Lorelai says. As soon as Rory is out the door Lorelai walks up to Luke who is at the cash register. "Okay, what was that?"

"What was what?" Luke asks, confused.

"That 'nothing' to Rory earlier." Lorelai says.

"It's nothing." Luke says.

"Oh it's something." Lorelai says, obviously not wanting to let this go.

"Is not." Luke argues.

"Is too." Lorelai argues back.

"Is not." Luke says this time getting a little annoyed.

"Is too." Lorelai says still a little amused by their conversation.

"Is not." Luke says, by this time really annoyed.

"Is not." Lorelai giggles, trying to trick him.

"Is too." Luke retorts, falling for the trap.

"HA!" Lorelai says triumphantly.

"What?" Luke asks and then realizes his mistake, "Oh jeez."

"Yes mister you just admitted it was something no SPILL!" Lorelai demands.

"Fine, Jess is coming back to Stars Hallow." Luke says quietly to Lorelai.

"REALLY!? Rory is going to be so happy!" she sequels, jumping up and down happily.

"I know." Luke grins.

"When is he coming?" Lorelai grins.

"Today." Luke says with a little bit of happiness in his voice. Although he wouldn't tell anyone he really had missed his nephew and was really excited to have him back, living with him in Stars Hallow.

"Today?" Lorelai asks.

"Yes today. That was Liz saying that he left this morning and should be here around…well about 30 minutes or so." Luke tells her.

"Ooh! I wanna see him!" Lorelai says excitedly. Jess and Lorelai got along pretty well when he was younger.

Luke rolls his eyes as Lorelai's behavior then says, "You will probably be in here when he gets here so you probably WILL see him." in a sarcastic tone.

"YAY!" Lorelai says happily. "Coffee!"

Luke gets the coffee pot and sighs as he pours her the coffee.

-**xxx**-

Jess gets off the bus and sets foot in Stars Hallow. He hadn't set foot here in 7 years when he had to leave to go back to New York. His mom and promised that she "cleaned up her act" but she didn't. She was still doing her drugs and still had horrible boyfriends. He wasn't sure if he was glad to be back in Stars Hallow or not. One thing he was happy about was seeing Rory. He hadn't talked to her in 7 years. He missed her so much and even though they hadn't spoken or talked in those 7 years, he still loved her. He knew that. He realized that he got here around the same exact time of year he did 7 years ago, the end of November. He couldn't help but think about Rory and his and their first and their last meetings. He quickly shook it off. As he was getting ready to make his way to Luke's diner Mrs. Patty, a lady with bright red hair and colorful robes stopped him.

"Welcome to Stars Hallow, can I help you with anything?" she purred and then pinched his butt.

"Hey!!" Jess cried out. "Mrs. Patty, leave me alone."

Mrs. Patty looked shocked that he knew her because she certainly didn't know this fine, _FINE_ man. She couldn't resist and pinched his butt again.

"Mrs. Patty!" Jess growled.

"Ooo…I like them feisty." Mrs. Patty cooed. "I'm sorry but who are you?"

"I can't believe you don't recognize me Mrs. Patty." Jess says in a pretend hurt tone.

Mrs. Patty scrunched her eyes up but still couldn't place him. She knew the voice but couldn't remember the name.

"I know, I'm sure I would have remembered a fine, and let me say fine, young man like yourself." she tells him

"Well Patty I'm hurt. It's only been 7 years since you last saw me." Jess smirks.

Mrs. Patty's eyes widened. "Jess Mariano." she said after thinking a while.

"Yep. Well I have to go find Luke." Jess says, wanting to get away from the crazy gossip queen.

"Bye Jess." she purrs and pinches his butt again. "Make sure you find Rory, she will be excited to see you. I really don't think she ever got over you." she says before walking away.

Jess was confused; he had no idea what she meant by, 'I don't think she ever got over you'. He shrugs it off and continues his way to the diner. As soon as he walks it every eye in the place is immediately on him.

"Nice to know things never change." Jess says to himself. He looks at the counter and sees Luke in his usual flannel with Lorelai. They look like they are in quiet a debate.

"Coffee please." Lorelai begs Luke.

"No." Luke says quickly.

"But…PLEASE…" Lorelai begs again.

"No." Luke says, still not changing his answer.

Lorelai pouts and then cries, "Meanie."

"Ill live." Luke shrugs. This makes Jess laugh to himself a little bit.

"So when is Jess getting here." Lorelai asks Luke for about the millionth time since she had got in there about an hour ago.

"Soon." Luke answers in an annoyed tone.

"You said that 5 minutes ago." Lorelai whines, not satisfied by the answer.

"Well he was supposed to be here 10 minutes ago." Luke tells her.

Lorelai pauses for a moment then gets a look of worry mixed disgust on her face, "Oh I hope Mrs. Patty didn't get to him."

"She probably did. Probably attacked him the moment he got off the bus." Luke grins.

Jess smirks and continues to listen to their conversation.

"Rory is going to be thrilled when he gets here, why didn't you tell her this morning when she asked?" Lorelai asks Luke.

"I thought that it would be a nice surprise." Luke answers curtly.

"Yeah. She defiantly will be surprised." Lorelai says with a big smile on her face.

"Good thing she and Dean broke up." Luke says.

Lorelai thinks about this statement for a moment and then nods. "Yea I actually think it's good too."

Luke's smile fades into a frown and then grumbles, "I still hate that punk."

Lorelai laughs at his tone and then replies with a sarcastic remark. "I would have never guessed. I mean you just put the guy in the headlock in the middle of the street just to make sure he knew that you were the best of friends!"

"I'm sorry I put the kid in a headlock but hey, he hasn't come by the diner or bugged Rory since." Luke explains.

"Yeah, well that's a good thing." Lorelai grins.

Lorelai and Luke both laugh. Luke then goes to the kitchen and Lorelai goes back to sipping her coffee. Jess is again is confused, what did they mean why they were happy she and that Dean kid broke up. He wondered why that was so good and he also wondered by Luke put the guy in a headlock. The thought of that made Jess laugh, he started to smirk to himself and then decided to let his presence be known.

He walks up to the counter and sits down next to Lorelai and waits for her to notice him.

"You know Luke's has the best coffee in the world." she says to him, she still doesn't know its him yet.

"So I've heard." Jess replies.

"So you are tourist or something." Lorelai asks him.

"No." Jess says, being monosyllabic.

Lorelai asks another question, "Visiting someone?"

"Yes." Jess answers her.

"Who?" Lorelai grins, still not knowing exactly who she is talking to.

"Still nosey as ever I see, you Gilmore's never change." Jess smirks.

It takes Lorelai a second before she recognizes him. "Jess!" she says happily and wraps him in a fierce hug.

Luke comes running out of the kitchen and sees Jess struggling to get out of her grasp. "Come on Jess, be a man." he laughs at his nephew as he scowls at him.

"You try being almost suffocated by a very excited Gilmore that hasn't seen you in 7 years and you see how easy it is to get out of their grasp. You won't be laughing then." Jess says.

"How long have you been here? You were supposed to be here 15 minutes ago." Luke says, ignoring his nephews sarcasm.

"Well Mrs. Patty attacked me as soon as I got off the bus and then I come in here and I just wanted to watch the old 'coffee or no coffee', 'Gilmore VS. Danes' argument. But then that came into a discussion on whether or not Mrs. Patty attacked me and then that turned into me and Rory and then THAT turned into Luke putting some Dean kid in a headlock." Jess says questionably on the last part.

"Oh…Rory's ex-boyfriend," Lorelai says and shudders. "…Dean."

"Huh. Luke, why did you put the kid in a headlock?" Jess asks his uncle.

"He broke up with Rory for no reason. He just got tired of being her boyfriend. That little punk…" Luke says his jaw set.

This makes Jess mad. How could someone treat Rory, HIS RORY, like that? Lorelai and Luke could sense his anger they looked at eachother and smiled.

"What?" Jess asks.

"Nothing." they answer quickly.

"Okay well I'm going to put my stuff upstairs." Jess says.

"Okay." Luke replies.

15 minutes later Jess comes down with a book. Luke asks Jess to work in the diner for a while and he does. Around 4:30 Jess takes a break and heads to the bridge. He reads for a few hours and then it starts to get dark.

-**xxx**-

17-year-old Rory Gilmore is on her way down to the bridge to read her copy of _Howl,_ the same copy that Jess had given her 7 years before. She read it all the time and always read his notes in the margins because it made her feel close to him. She loved him with all her heart but she was starting to lose hope of ever seeing him again. As she got to the bridge she saw a figure sitting at the end of the bridge. Nobody ever came to this bridge except her and………Jess. Rory feels butterflies in her stomach and starts to make her way down to the edge of the bridge. She hopes it really is Jess or else this confrontation might be a little awkward. She makes her way to his figure and stops when she is about 3 feet behind him. She wants to make sure it's him first. "Jess…" she whispers.

Jess hears someone whisper his name. He knows that voice and he feels a weird feeling in his stomach as he turns around and meets the eyes of Rory Gilmore. Her beautiful blue eyes…

She sees him turn around and stare at her with his mysterious brown eyes. She can't help herself, she runs forward and wraps her arms around him and presses her lips against his, HARD.

First he's shocked and then he realizes the girl he has been in love with for almost 8 years is kissing him. He wraps his arms around her holding her tight against him. He deepens the kiss and nibbles on her lower lip asking for entrance. She grants it and they explore each others mouths. The kiss gets more and more heated. Rory climbs onto his lap and pushes him over; soon they are lying on the bridge next to eachother not breaking their lips apart. Her hands are tangled in his hair and his hands are rubbing her back. They break apart when air becomes necessary they take their lips away and smile at eachother. They feel something cold and wet landing on them and together they look up at the sky and grin.

"It's snowing…" Jess says softly.

"Good things happen when it snows…" Rory replies just as softly.

"I…I want to be with you Rory." Jess says nervously.

"I want to be with you too Jess." Rory smiles gently and puts her hand on his cheek.

Jess feels her hand on his cheek and kisses it softly then replies, "You know, I never stopped thinking about you."

"Me either, I have your _Howl_ book and _The Clash_ CD." she says as she hands him the book.

Jess laughs and then says, "I can't believe you still have that." he says.

"Why wouldn't I." Rory says like it the most believable thing in the world.

"I missed you…so much." Jess says as he gives her a quick kiss.

"I missed you too." she says giving him another kiss. "You know, I always liked you."

"You did?" Jess asks.

"Yes…even when we were kids." Rory admits.

"I liked you too." Jess says as he starts to get up, bringing Rory up with him.

Rory grins at him and says, "I'm glad your back."

Jess grins back at Rory and gives her a kiss.

"So am I." he tells her sincerely.

"We should be getting back." Rory says.

"Yeah we should." Jess finally says after pausing a moment. They stand up and entangle their fingers and take off in the direction of the diner.

-**xxx**-

**So I hope you liked the chapter. Review Please!!**


	3. Back Into The Swing Of Things

**AN: ****Wow! You guys are awesome. I'm loving the great reviews. Well as promised here is the next chapter. Hope you like it!**

**-xxx-**

**Chapter 2****- **_**Back Into the Swing of Things**_

Jess and Rory walk hand in hand back to the diner. When they walk in it gets extremely quiet and everyone stares at the couple.

Luke comes walking from the kitchen when he hears the diner hush; he knows that only something really big can hush the diner. Much to his surprise he walks out to find Rory and Jess standing together holding hands. Rory with a blush creeping onto her cheeks and Jess with a smirk on his face.

"What is going on here?" Luke asks the couple.

Rory and Jess look at eachother and grin. "We're together now." Rory finally says.

Mrs. Patty, who had been sitting at one of the tables, quickly ran out of the diner.

"Well looks like the gossip queens are still in business." Jess laughs.

"It will be all over town in less than 15 minutes." Rory also laughs leaning into Jess as she does.

Luke watches the couple, they look so happy. It was the first time Luke had seen Rory this happy since the last time Jess was in Stars Hallow. He always thought that when Jess left it was like a part of her was missing and now that he was back, well, he was just pleased to see her this happy again.

"So you two are…" Luke starts.

"Yeah, we're together now." Jess finishes for him.

"Well do you guys want something to eat?" Luke asks the couple.

"Sure." Rory says.

Jess and Rory go and sit down at the counter.

"Coffee?" Luke asks Rory.

"Do you even have to ask?" Rory asks. Luke smiles and pours Rory a cup of coffee.

"Still addicted to coffee I see." Jess says.

Rory smiles and gives him a quick kiss on the lips just as Lorelai walks in the diner. She stops and stumbles back as she watches her daughter kiss Jess. Then she smiles and bounds up to them.

"Have anything to tell me?" Lorelai asks her daughter in an impatient voice.

"Uhmm…not really." Rory jokes.

"Oh come on!!" Lorelai begs.

"Jess and I are together now." Rory finally says. Lorelai sequels with delight.

"Finally! All is right with the world!" she says happily.

"Now if only you and Luke would finally get together." Jess mutters quietly, only loud enough for Rory to hear. Rory turns to him and smiles and gives him another quick kiss. They knew that Luke and Lorelai liked eachother. The whole town even knew. One of the first things Jess noticed when he came to town was that Luke and Lorelai were constantly flirting. Although they wanted to get them together they thought that maybe it was a better idea to just sit back and watch the show. Sooner or later one of them would let something slip and they would be together in a heart-beat.

"What?" Lorelai asks.

"Nothing." Jess answers.

"Oh come on!" Lorelai says.

"It's nothing." Jess says, shrugging it off. Although he already knows that she will not let it go.

"Is not." Lorelai retort.

"Is too!" Jess snaps back.

"Jess," Luke starts. "Arguing with her will get you nowhere, take it from me."

"Please Jess, tell me!" Lorelai pleads.

"I was just telling Rory something, it wasn't important." Jess says finally.

"Oh…" Lorelai says, finally dropping the subject. Although she knows something isn't right.

Rory giggles and grins at her mom and Luke.

"Okay, well what I started before you mother came in here, do you all want to eat now?" Luke says, getting back to business.

Jess, Rory and Lorelai all nod and then sit back down at the counter.

"Well what do you want?" Luke asks.

"Coffee, burgers and fries." the Gilmore girls answer in a chorus.

"Death traps, all of them. Jess?" Luke asks him.

"Coke and a burger." Jess answers.

"Okay, be ready in a bit." Luke says as he goes to put the order in.

"So Jess, what have you been up to since you had to go back to New York?" Lorelai asks.

"Well the whole 'starting over' thing lasted a whole week then she became a crack head again and the whole boyfriend thing went right back to where it was before I left. I was miserable. But Liz said that I needed to stay in New York and I wasn't aloud to tell you about how miserable I was or anything. After that I pretty much stayed in my room and read except for when I went to school and to eat." he explains.

Rory and Lorelai give him a sympathetic look and then he continues.

"I read a lot and managed not to get into too much trouble. When I pulled pranks it was only minor stuff that really didn't matter."

Luke grumbles and then says, "Like TPing the Town Square or hamming Taylor's car or egging Kirk while he's walking the streets?"

Jess grins and thinks about the things he did when he was little and lived in Stars Hallow, "Yeah basically but you have to admit the 2nd one you were all for it and then 3rd you laughed until you almost cried when he came in here screaming and crying."

"Yeah he came into the diner covered in eggs!" Rory says, laughing hysterically.

"Yeah and he called you the devils spawn, I don't think he even knew what spawn meant!" Lorelai grins.

"Tristan." Rory says.

Lorelai laughs then says, "Yes, Tristan IS the devils spawn."

"Tristan DuGray?" Luke asks the rambling girls.

"Who's Tristan?" Jess asks, a wave of jealousy hitting him.

"Oh he used to go to Chilton with me until he was sent to military school." Rory explains.

"Ex-boyfriend?" Jess asks almost not wanting to hear the answer.

"Nope just a friend." Rory tells him.

Jess looks sighs in relief and then not wanting to blow his cover, he nods.

"So you go to Chilton now?" Jess asks Rory, trying to change the subject.

"Yes because my baby is just so smart like that!" Lorelai brags.

"But I almost couldn't go because we couldn't afford it." Rory tells him.

"But of course Hitler and the Puppet Master helped with that." Lorelai says with a look of disgust on her face.

"Your parents?" Luke asks.

"No, the real Hitler came back to life and offered to pay for my baby's way into Chilton." Lorelai says, sarcasm dripping off of ever word she says.

"I thought you weren't on speaking terms with them." Jess says.

"After they started paying for Chilton, weekly Friday Night Dinners were instated." Lorelai pouts.

"Really?" Jess says giving them a sorry look.

"One trip to hell every week." Lorelai grumbles.

"Unless you skip." Luke puts in.

"Because we are just so, 'deathly ill'" Rory laughs.

"Hush child, we mustn't let our secret out." Lorelai whispers, putting her hand over her daughter's mouth.

"You're insane." Luke says. "I'll go check on your food."

"You do that Lukey!" Lorelai yells.

"SHUT UP LORELAI!" Luke yells from the kitchen.

"COFFEE!!!" Lorelai shouts.

"Jess gett'em coffee." Luke tells Jess.

"Fine." Jess grumbles getting up and pouring coffee in the girl's cups that they gulp down almost immediately.

Jess turns to put the pot up when Lorelai grabs his arm and whispers, "Leave the pot."

"Fine, but you put me up to it. I did it against my free will." Jess says.

"God!" Lorelai says dramatically.

"Savior!" Rory says even more dramatically.

"Angel!" Lorelai says happily.

"He's got wings!" Rory says.

"Yep, you've got wings baby!" Lorelai grins.

"Sure do." Jess says sarcastically.

"You're my new favorite diner man." Rory says.

"And her new boy toy." Lorelai laughs.

Rory blushes and Jess smirks.

"MOM!" Rory says, clearly embarrassed.

"Rory I didn't know you had such intentions, shame on you." Jess grins sitting back down next to his girlfriend whose face was the color of lobster by now.

"Near death." Luke says placing a plate into of Jess. "Death, death." he says as he places a plate in front of each Gilmore girl.

"I changed my mind, Luke is my favorite." Rory says.

"And why's that?" Luke inquires.

"Cause you're not making fun of me." Rory says simply.

"Aww I'm sorry Ror." Jess says putting on a fake pout.

"Poor baby. He can't do the pout." Lorelai says.

"Nope. Gilmore's only." Rory answers.

"Of course." Lorelai says.

"My statement still stands, INSANE!" Luke says.

"But you love us anyways." Lorelai says batting her eyelashes at him.

"Sure do." Luke says sarcastically. Lorelai is caught off guard by his comment and blushes, and then he too blushes. Rory and Jess grin and give eachother a knowing look.

"Well mini-me and I should be getting home." Lorelai says, still a little shaky.

"Oh, okay." Luke says a little disappointed. "See you for breakfast?"

"Oh course. We can't live without our coffee." Lorelai says as she grins at Luke, he grins back.

"Hey ill see you tomorrow." Jess says to Rory giving her a quick kiss.

"Yeah, bye Jess." Rory says getting up.

"Hey, ill call you later." he tells her.

"Okay." she answers.

"Night." Jess tells Rory.

"Night." Rory says giving Jess another quick kiss before following her mother back to the crapshack with a huge grin on her face.

-**xxx**-

"COFFEE!" Lorelai yells making her way into the diner the next morning.

Luke comes from back in the kitchen and laughs at Lorelai's current state. Her hair is frazzled and she is in her pajamas and her eyes are half closed. She is followed by an even more frazzled looking Rory who is also in her pajamas.

"What happened to you two?" Luke asks getting out two coffee cups and pouring them each coffee.

"Coffee maker broke." Rory whines.

"Pancakes…" Lorelai cries.

Luke nods, not even going to bother going any father and goes back to the kitchen to make them pancakes. Jess walks down the stairs and smirks at the sight of his girlfriend who is falling asleep at the counter. He walks over to her and whispers in her ear, "Morning beautiful."

Rory groggily turns around and looks at Jess. "No coffee, coffee maker broke. Dead…" she mumbles.

"You want more coffee?" Jess asks going behind the counter and pouring both girls more coffee.

"Bless you." the two girls cry.

Jess smirks again and continues to pour coffee for the other costumers.

"So today, what do we have planned?" Lorelai asks her daughter.

"Well I thought I would hang out with Jess for a while and then tonight there is the town meeting and then maybe afterwards we can have a movie night." Rory suggested.

"Take out and junk food?" Lorelai asks.

"Would it BE a movie night without it?" Rory jokes.

"Of course not. Uhgg, do you know what I just realized?" Lorelai says with a groan.

"What?" Rory asks.

"We are in our pajamas in the middle of the diner." Lorelai says putting her head back down on the table.

Rory looks down at her pajamas; she has on a pair of pink cupcake pants and a lacy tank top. He mother has on a white lacy tank top and white pajama pants with cups of coffee on them.

"Oh my god, we are." Rory says.

"Yea…well the towns seen worse." Lorelai points out.

"Kirks night terrors." Rory says with a look of disgust on her face.

"Right." Lorelai says.

"Well I think I'm going to head home and change into something decent and then hang out with Jess for a while." Rory says.

"Alright sweets, be safe." Lorelai says.

"Mom, its Stars Hallow." Rory tells her mother.

"I know but…still." Lorelai says, trying to look out for her daughter.

"I know mom." Rory says, completely understanding her mother.

"Well meet me here at Luke's for dinner before we go to the town meeting." Lorelai tells her.

"Alright bye mom." Rory sighs.

"Bye offspring." Lorelai jokes.

Rory rolls her eyes and goes over to Jess. He is standing at the counter reading his book.

"Hey." Rory says going up to him.

"Hey." he says back, smirking.

"I'm going to go home and actually get into some clothes. Do you want to hang out afterwards?" Rory asks her boyfriend.

"Sure." Jess agrees.

"Okay well when I'm done ill come back here, is that okay." Rory tells him.

Jess nods and then says, "Yeah its fine. I have to work for a while anyways then I will tell Luke that I'm leaving to spend time with you."

"Okay. Bye." she says giving him a kiss.

"Bye." he tells her.

Rory walks back to the crapshack grinning like an idiot.

-**xxx**-

Later that day, Jess and Rory are walking around the town square holding hands and talking.

"So what are you doing today?" Jess asks Rory.

"Well today I'm going to hang out with you for a while then I have to study for a while. Then tonight mom and I are going to the town meeting--"

"They still have those!?" Jess asks clearly surprised.

Rory stops to look at Jess then replies, "Well of course, do you REALLY think Taylor would stop holding them?"

"No, he would have to give up his gavel and we all know how much he loved banging that gavel around…" Jess says.

"Dirty!" Rory grins.

"You're turning more and more into Lorelai everyday you know that." Jess grins back.

"Well you love me anyways." Rory laughs.

"Yes, I do." Jess smiles.

"I love you Jess." Rory says for the first time since he has come back.

"I love you too Rory." Jess smiles.

Rory and Jess are too busy smiling at eachother to notice a very angry floppy haired guy behind them.

"Well you can't say 'I love you' to me but you sure can to him!" the guy says in an angry tone.

Rory tenses when she hears the voice and squeezes on Jess's hand. Jess realizes that this floppy haired jerk must be none other than Dean.

"I heard you got yourself a new boyfriend. I didn't believe it for one second but they way you two look just oh so cozy and are saying 'I love you' just so damn easily. I must have been wrong." Dean says.

"Dean leave us alone." Rory says.

"No I won't. I don't have to!" Dean yells.

"Geez bag-boy, give it a rest." Jess spats.

"What?" Dean asks stupidly.

"Wow, you know they said you were stupid but they really weren't underestimating you." Jess says.

"Who says what?" Dean asks again, still confused.

"The town! Jesus, we got a slow one here!" Jess says.

"Who the hell are you to talk to me like that!?" Dean yells at Jess.

"Oh I have the right, you are insulting my girlfriend and I'm sorry if your too big of a freaking sissy to handle a little insult thrown right back in your face." Jess yells back.

"Jess maybe we should go." Rory says, not really wanting her boyfriend and her ex to get in a fight.

"You stay out of this!" Dean screams at Rory. Rory flinches and squeezes Jess's hand even tighter.

"Hey! You can yell at me as much as you want but don't go yelling at MY girlfriend bag-boy!" Jess screams at Dean.

"Whatever, she wont be your girlfriend for long. She will realize how stupid you are and will come running back to me because I'm so much better for her. You're just some creep she picked up off the street; you don't know her like I do. I know her better than anyone!" Dean hisses.

"Oh yeah!? If you know so much about her then you would know that I'm not just some 'creep that she picked up off the street'. You would know that I've known her since we were kids and I am Luke's nephew." Jess says.

"Dean! This is NONE of your business, you broke up with ME remember. So you have no reason to care about this. I never loved you anyways; my heart has always been with Jess, not you. I'm NEVER going back out with you EVER so you should just give up on that dream right now. You're an idiot and a stupid big headed jerk and I hate you! Don't ever talk to me OR my boyfriend like this ever again or I'll have you and your stupid little ass out of this town faster than you can even say your name! You don't know me at all and don't even try to say that you do because you don't! Now get the hell out of here and never talk to me again!" Rory screeches.

Jess and Dean look at Rory completely shocked. Jess smirks at his girlfriend who looks so pissed off that smoke is almost coming out of her ears. Dean on the other hand is standing in shock but soon becomes absolutely furious.

"You can't force me out of town!" he yells at her.

"I may not be able too but you're forgetting one thing, wise guy, I'm the town princess, and if I hate you, this whole town is going to hate you. Taylor especially, he never really liked you anyways. The only reason that you still have your bag-boy job is because Mrs. Patty and Babette told him to let you keep it because for some stupid reason they like you but not for long because may you have forgotten but we are standing in the middle of the town square and by now you have lived in Stars Hallow long enough to know that gossip is everything and everywhere around here and also if you haven't noticed your little screaming fit back there attracted a lot of attention and I'd say right now that Mrs. Patty and Babette aren't liking you too much right now either and Taylor, well he looks ready to kill!" Rory says.

Dean looks up and sees the angry faces of the townies.

"You WILL be sorry Rory Gilmore." And with that Dean skulks off in a different direction.

As soon as he is gone Rory falls into Jess's arms crying.

"I hate him! I really really hate him." she cries.

Jess whispers that everything is going to be okay and holds her tight against him, already hating this bastard and damning him to hell for making his girlfriend cry. He kisses Rory on the head and continues to try and calm her down.

-**xxx**-

**Well there you have it. Hope you liked it. Review Please!**


	4. Jess, Guess

**AN: I hope you all like this new chapter. Also, I am looking for a BETA to look over my story before I post it. If anyone is interested in doing that send me a PM or if you are sending me a review on a chapter you can mention it in your post. Well enough rambling for here, here is the next chapter. Also Dean will be back in the story a few times but don't worry, this IS a Lit. I HATE Dean with burning passion and wish he would die but I have some idea's for the story that involve him but don't worry Rory and Dean WILL NOT be together in this story. Okay, well here's the next chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 3****: Jess, guess.**

Rory and Jess are sitting on a bench in the town square. Rory has her head buried in Jess's chest and is crying. Jess is trying to figure out how to calm his girlfriend down but he knows he isn't very good at the whole comforting thing so he just sits and rubs Rory's back and lets her cry on him. Lorelai once told him that sometimes that's the only things someone needs. He's glad that she had told him that or else he would be completely clueless on what too do. Jess glances up when he hears panting and dismisses it. "I think i must be going delusional." he says to himself. All of a sudden Rory sits straight up looking curiously at a strange sight in the towns square. He turns his attention to what he thought was just an illusion or something and sees Lorelai running toward them.Lorelai Victoria Gilmore and running do not belong in the same sentence unless the words don't or hates is in between the two. But he knows his eyes are not messing with him as he watches a smile grow on his girlfriends face and only a few silent tears are falling down her cheeks now. They watch as Lorelai stops and leans over, her hands resting on her knees and bends her head down. A few seconds later she puts her hand up signaling to wait a minute. Despite that she had just been crying a moment ago Rory bursts into a fit of giggles and even Jess cant suppress his laughter after just watching Lorelai run at top speed half-way across town in high-heels; almost knocking over 5 people.

"I'm…………so…………glad…………that you……………think………my running………is so hil-……………-arious………" she says, still out of breath and very winded.

"Mom, you should have seen you!" Rory giggles.

"Your lucky………oh daughter of mine…………if I could move I would kill you." Lorelai says, getting a little of her breath back.

"Face it Lorelai, you Gilmore are just not made to run." Jess smirks.

"Huh, Mr. Wise-Guy Jess, I've known you since you were 10, I've seen you attempting to run. It's quite hilarious." Lorelai grins.

"Ha-ha, hilarious Lorelai." Jess says. His smirk still plastered to his face.

"Die." Lorelai says playfully.

Just then they see Luke running toward the town square. He skids to a stop next to Rory, Jess and Lorelai.

"What the hell was going---Lorelai, whats wrong with you?" Luke asks.

"Mom just attempted to run all the way across town. I guess to find me and Jess. Wait---Mom why were you running?" Rory asks.

"Ha-ha! Jess, guess. That rhymes!" Lorelai giggles.

"Jeez." Jess and Luke say at the same time.

"You know sometimes I really think you two are twins." Lorelai says with a serious look on her face.

"MOM!" Rory says.

"Wha---t?" Lorelai says making the "a" in 'what' extra long just to bug her.

"Why were you running over here anyways?" Rory asks.

"Well……" Lorelai starts. "I was at the Inn when Mrs. Patty and Babette come rushing in there screaming about you and Jess and Dean and fight and after I heard those words I left as fast as I could. Jess, Rory, Dean and Fight are not 4 words I want to hear used in a sentence." Lorelai says.

"Dean came over here and was starting crap with Rory cause Rory told me that she loves me---" Jess starts but is interrupted by Lorelai.

"AWWWW Jess and Rory lo-------ve each other!" Lorelai taunts making the "o" extra long in 'love'.

"Mom…chill." Rory says giggling.

"Anyways, as I was saying before I got interrupted Dean came over here and was all put out cause Rory told me that she loved me and then he started yelling at us and then I started yelling at him and then Rory got so pissed off…" Jess trails off and starts to smirk.

"I told him to go to hell and to get the hell away from me and I said a lot of other things too…" Rory says sheepishly.

"You told him to get his, and I quote, 'I'll have you and your stupid little ass out of this town faster than you can even say your name'". Jess laughs.

"Go Rory!" Lorelai says happily.

"Wow, Rory. I didn't even think you could SAY the words ass or hell. Let alone yell at someone using them." Luke says.

"Hey…I was mad." Rory says.

"Like smoke-running-out-of-your-ears mad." Jess tells them.

"Man, why do I always miss everything." Lorelai says sadly.

"Don't worry mom. If he ever comes back again you and the rest of the town will have a nice little show." Rory grins.

"Yay!" Lorelai says jumping up and down and clapping her hands like a 3 year old.

"Lorelai, calm down. You're acting like an immature 3 year old." Luke groans.

"Only if you give me and offspring coffee!" Lorelai declares in an evil tone.

"Fine. Come on, let's go to the diner." Luke says.

As they are walking toward the diner Rory turns around to see a very pissed off looking Taylor screaming at a very sheepish and embarrassed looking Dean. Rory giggles and continues on her way to the diner with her boyfriend, mother and her mother's hopefully future boyfriend.

-**xxx**-

Over the next few weeks Rory and Jess had very little problems with Dean. After Rory's threat to kick him out of town and Taylor chewing him out in front of the whole town. Mrs. Patty told her that he fired him almost immediately and told him to never come back into his establishment ever again. Rory thought it was absolutely hilarious that Taylor had told Dean off; she wished that she could have been closer that day to hear exactly what he was yelling at him about. Although she heard, "irresponsible, idiotic, trouble-making" and lots of other negative words on his part.

Rory was sitting in the diner with her mom drinking coffee. She had just got home from school so she had her books and backpack with her.

"So do we have any plans today for this wonderfully gorgeous December Saturday?" Lorelai asks her daughter.

Rory pauses for a moment to think but doesn't come up with anything in particular. "Not that I know of---why? Do you have something in mind?" Rory asks.

"Well I was thinking me, you, Jess and Luke could have a movie night." Lorelai says with a bit of blush rising on her cheeks as she said Luke's name.

Rory notices the blush and quickly responds, "Mom why are you inviting Luke. He hates movies."

"Uhh---Well, I—Uhh…" Lorelai stutters trying to find a good reason.

"Mommy likes Lukey!" Rory whispers, only loud enough for Lorelai to hear.

Lorelai's eyes grow wide and she clamps a hand over her daughter's mouth. "No, no, no, no, no!!" Lorelai says in a pleading voice.

"Yes you do. Or else you wouldn't get so defensive when I say something about it." Rory says.

"It's just a crush; people get crushes all the time. It's probably just something I ate." Lorelai says, trying to cover up her true feelings.

"Fine, whatever." Rory says with a grin plastered on her face.

"Yes. Whatever." Lorelai says.

"Well I have to go. I'm going to take a walk or something. See you later." Rory says giving her mom a kiss on the cheek and a smile toward Jess, who was busy serving a costumer. She waits until he is done and back at the counter before going up to him.

"Hey." Rory says giving him a beautiful smile.

"Hey yourself." He says, giving her a smirk. He wouldn't smile out her in public. Rory had noticed by now that he didn't like to smile in public, he would smirk but he only smiled when the two of them were alone. Although she had caught him smile when he was around Luke or Lorelai occasionally. They were the only other people he really opened up to or let his guard down around. The rest of the town thought of him as a monosyllabic and sometimes rude person but Rory knew better. They just didn't know him. But Rory was glad that he didn't open up to many people. In a way it made her feel special.

"What are you thinking about?" he asks her, interrupting her thoughts.

"I was just thinking about how you really don't open up to anyone but me and occasionally with Luke or my mom.

"You 3 I can trust. I've known you guys longer and I don't know, I…" Jess says, trailing off. But Rory completely understood. She gave him an encouraging smile and she saw him bend his head down looking at his shoes. Rory tell that she was grinning along with her though.

"Why do you not smile in front of anyone but me?" Rory asks.

"Because it would ruin the image." Jess says with a smirk and looking her dead in the eyes.

"Oh you mean the James Dean wunna-be image?" Rory laughs.

"Yes that one. Exactly." Jess smirks.

Rory leans in to give her boyfriend a kiss that he returns willingly. They break apart and he takes her hands in his.

"I love you Rory." he says quietly.

"I love you too Jess." she says, just as quietly.

They lean in for another kiss that quickly turns into something that wouldn't be appropriate to be doing in the middle of the diner. Rory pulls away reluctantly and blushes as she feels the townies staring at them.

"Are they staring?" Rory asks.

"Yup." Jess responds. He gives her a tiny smile and she cheeks turn 15 different shades of red. "Relax, they will forget about it in a few minutes." he tells her.

"Yeah you're right. Well I have to get going. I have some studying and stuff to do." she says.

"Okay well I'll call you later okay." Jess tells her.

"Alright. Bye." Rory says.

"Love you." he says, almost inaudibly.

"Ditto." Rory says, giggling as she says it.

Jess smirks and pulls her in his arms giving her one last kiss before he lets her go. Rory grins and starts walking toward the door, blowing him a kiss as she leaves.

Rory walks outside and wraps her coat around her. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground and it shined like glitter as the sun hit it. Rory loved how pretty Stars Hallow looked in the winter. She smiled and watched her breath make little air clouds as she breathed in and out. She was so busy enjoying the scene that she didn't see Dean making his way up to her.

-**xxx**-

**Hope you guys like it. Reviews are totally happy-making!! (sorry, reading my favorite book WAY too much)**


	5. It Was A Mistake!

**Chapter 4****- It was a mistake!**

Rory is still looking at the snow when she feels a few slow breaths on her neck, she turns around thinking that Jess came to tell her something and puts on a large, happy smile and turns around only to have that smile replaced with a frown when she realizes that it's just Dean. She was still mad at him about the incident when Jess had first come to Stars Hallow.

"Hey Ror," he says happily.

"Hello Dean," Rory says bitterly.

Dean frowns and then replies with, "What's with the cold shoulder?"

"Are you serious!?" she screeches. Dean gives her a look of confusion and then she starts to speak again, "Dean, you almost got into a fight with my boyfriend! You also treated me like crap! You insulted me AND my boyfriend so don't come up and 'Hey Ror' me!" Rory screams at him.

"Look Rory, you know I love you but obviously you love Jess, not me so I just wanted to ask if we could be friends," Dean says giving her a wicked smile.

Rory sighs. Dean had never really done anything else to make her hate him; he had been a good boyfriend until the 'I love you' incident. "Maybe being friends wouldn't be so bad," she muttered.

"What?" Dean asks.

"Oh it's nothing really. I guess we can be friends," Rory says halfheartedly.

"Really!?" Dean said happily.

"Sure, I guess," Rory replies.

"This is going to be great," Dean says wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Rory tenses and shrugs his arm off. Dean doesn't notice and just puts his arm back on her.

"Dean, no," Rory says, shrugging his arm off again.

"What?" Dean asks innocently.

"Stop putting your arm around me," Rory says in annoyance.

"Why?" Dean asks.

"Because people may get the wrong idea!" Rory tells him. Sometimes she wished that maybe he just wasn't so clueless. Jess had been right the other day when he called him slow and stupid.

"You're just worried about Jess," Dean accuses.

"No Dean, no. I just don't like you touching me now remove your hand before I remove it for you," she says in a tough tone.

"Nice one Rory but we both know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me," Dean says smugly, still not removing his arm.

"You're so sure about that huh?" Rory asks. Dean nods and gives her an evil smile and starts to lead her toward one of the windows in front of the diner.

"Rory, we both know you love me. You're just scared. So that's you are with Jess. It's because you're just scared of what might happen between us and you wanted something safe, something different. Why can't you admit to that?" Dean asks.

"Because I DON'T love you Dean. Stop staying that I do because I don't. And I'm not with Jess because I'm scared. I'm with Jess because I love him. The truth is, I never loved you. My heart has always been with Jess. Why can't you except that and move on?" Rory asks.

Dean huffs and then leans down to kiss her but Rory is to distracted by her anger at him to notice this. His lips touch hers and for a moment she forgets who he is and she kisses him back for just a couple seconds. Then she hears the sound of something hard falling and she pulls away quickly. Dean frowns and says, "Rory…"

"No! No! No! No!" She says quietly. Just then she looks over Dean's shoulder and sees someone who really should not have been standing there looking absolutely crushed.

"Jess…" she says quietly.

Jess looks at her with hurt written all through his eyes. Dean turns around and smiles smugly at him. Jess quickly puts on a stony expression. Jess swiftly walks up to her and hands her the backpack that she had forgotten in the diner.

"Here," he says in a monosyllabic tone.

"Jess, let me explain," Rory says again.

"No Rory I don't want to hear it," Jess says coldly.

"But Jess…" she tries.

"I SAW YOU KISSING HIM!" He yells.

"But he…" Rory starts.

"No Rory. I saw how he kissed you but you didn't pull away! You could have pulled away from it but you didn't! You didn't Rory!" Jess says more hurt than anything else.

"It was an…" Rory tries to say.

"Don't say anything. I don't want to listen to it," he cries.

"But Jess I…" she wants to comfort him she wants to say something but he won't let her.

"Don't say it Rory," Jess says sadly.

"Jess you know…" Rory tries again to protest but he just cuts her off again.

"No. Don't talk to me Rory," Jess says in an icy tone. Then he turns around and starts to walk back to the diner.

"Jess, wait. Please!" Rory cries out to him but he doesn't answer he keeps walking back to the door.

"Jess…" Rory mumbles but he still doesn't answer he walks into the diner and slams the door shut. From the window she sees him yell something to Luke and quickly walk up the stairs to his apartment. Rory can feel the town's stares. Since her and Dean had been standing right in front of the window Rory knew that it would be all around town in less than ten minutes that Dean had kissed her in front of Jess. Dean came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. Rory turned around her eyes blazing red from anger.

"Ror…" Dean starts but is cut off.

"You…you…you! I HATE you Dean. NEVER talk to me again! EVER! Stay away from me and stay away from Jess. I LOVE Jess and you might have just ruined things for us. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" She screams. Dean is taken back by her anger and just walks away. Rory looks in the windows of the diner and notices that the town is still staring at her. With tears running down her cheeks Rory runs back to her house and collapses on her bed crying her eyes out wondering how things could have went from so right to so wrong in just a matter of seconds.


	6. Confused Feelings

**A/N: Okay, here is the next chapter. Sorry my chapters haven't been very long, school had been very hectic lately and I'm just doing these in my spare time. Anyways I love your guy's reviews. Their awesome! Also, I will probably only have a few more chapters in this story and then I will be finished with it. I'm thinking about doing another fan-fic after this one but I won't get into much detail about it and leak out my ideas until this fan-fic is almost finished. Anyways here is the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy it. **

**Oh and a special thanks to Just A Girl Of The Hollow x3. She is my awesome BETA and I would just like to say thanks to her for the time she puts into editing my pieces because, well I will admit it, I am absolutely horrible at grammar and things like that so anyways just thanks. **

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**Chapter 5 – Confused Feelings…**

Lorelai was seated at the counter of the diner when Jess came charging in the door, flinging the door open hard, so hard that when it hit the wall the glass almost shattered. Lorelai laughed and Jess just sent daggers in her direction instead. Lorelai just stopped laughing. She wondered what had made Jess so mad. Whatever it was Lorelai thought it was amusing.

She watched as Jess trudged up to the counter, mumbled something to Luke and walked quickly up the stairs. Luke turned and looked at Lorelai with a look of confusion. Jess had been fine until a few minutes ago, but then again that boy was very moody.

"Do you…?" Luke started.

Lorelai shrugged in response.

"I don't want to know," Luke said after thinking for a few minutes. He left the counter and went back into the kitchen.

Lorelai burst out into laughter causing a few customers to give her weird looks but she didn't care. The look on Luke's face had sent her over the edge. She was laughing so hard that she almost fell out of her seat.

"Lorelai what are you doing?!" Luke asked when he came out again a little bit later.

"I have no idea!" Lorelai laughed.

"Nevermind. Forget I asked," Luke said.

Lorelai continued her laughing and everyone else just continued to stare at her, wondering what had gotten into her.

**---**

After Lorelai had left the diner Luke walked upstairs to tell his nephew to get his ass back downstairs and get to work. When he got up there he found his nephew fast asleep on his bed. Luke was getting ready to yell at him when he saw something on Jess's face. It looked like water or something.

"Jess!" Luke yelled.

Jess jumped up at the sound of his voice and ended up falling out of the bed and onto to floor.

"Get downstairs now and work!" Luke grumbled, slamming the door on his way out.

Jess stood up and sighed. He was not in the mood to deal with people right now. If Luke only really knew the reason. Jess ignored Luke and lay back down on the bed and a few tears escaped from his eyes. He couldn't believe he was crying. Jess Mariano did not cry but here he was sitting on his bed crying because his girlfriend who was also his best friend cheated on him with her ex. Jess couldn't believe it, was he really getting soft. He didn't care though, he angrily wiped the tears from his eyes and turned over and went back to sleep.

**---**

Lorelai was walking into the inn when she ran into a very nervous looking Dean. He ran right into her.

"Lorelai!?" Dean said in a fearful tone. He was scared that she had found out about what Dean had done to Rory earlier and was coming to chew him out. Lorelai was tough and she could hurt him if she really wanted too. Lorelai laughed at his fear.

"What's the matter Dean!? Scared?" She taunted.

"Of you yes. Bye," Dean said before he walked off. Lorelai thought that was weird. Even for Dean. She ignored it though and continued her way to the Inn.

---

Rory lay down on her bed crying. She couldn't believe how much she had messed up, she had never meant to kiss Dean; it was just a moment of weakness. She loved Jess, she was sure of it. She couldn't believe Jess had thought that she didn't love him, like she would actually love Dean. She couldn't love Dean because Dean wasn't Jess. It was as simple as that. She was confused and hurt all at the same time. Rory had no idea what to do but she thought about calling her mom.

Rory walked slowly to the hallway and grabbed the phone from the living room and dialed the Inn's number.

"Hello?" Michel asked in an annoyed tone.

"Michel its Rory," Rory said in a grumpy tone.

"Oh hello Rory, are you having a nice day?" Michel asked in a mocking tone.

"No I'm not. I need to speak to my mom," Rory said.

Michel grunted and then said, "Your mom isn't here. Irresponsible woman! She can't even show up to work on time!" Michel grumbled.

"Hey!" Rory shouted over the phone. She heard Michel wince over the phone.

"What!?" He asked in an annoyed tone. Apparently he didn't like her yelling.

"Don't start talking down on my mom! She is great and you of all people shouldn't be talking bad about her and right now I don't care if I'm a town princess or anything and right now I really don't care about how I treat people but one thing is for sure you are not going around insulting my mom. So what if she's late. Deal with it!" Rory screamed into the phone and then hung up.

She couldn't believe she had just yelled at Michel. He would be mad for a long time about that but she didn't really care. Rory threw the phone back on the couch and ran to her room, landing on her bed and bursting into sobs again.

**---**

Lorelai was getting home from the Inn to have a refill of some much needed coffee. Sookie had gone crazy again and for some reason had forgotten to make coffee. Lorelai couldn't imagine such a thing, forgetting about coffee. Blasphemy!

But that wasn't even the strangest part, when she had gotten to the Inn Michel had went off on her about how she had raised a disrespectful child. He had explained, in great detail on how Rory had called him and went off on him about nothing. He also implied that Lorelai needed to go home and use some discipline on her, so called 'spoiled brat.' But Lorelai knew Rory would never do that, would she?

She unlocked the front door to find out that it was already unlocked. She had sworn Rory had said that she was going to hang out with Jess today, maybe they were in the house somewhere. Lorelai shuddered, she DID NOT want to walk in on anything.

"Rory!? Are you home?" Lorelai called out.

No one answered but she heard a strange sound coming from her daughter's room. Lorelai grabbed an umbrella in one hand and had her purse in the other. She slowly crept to the door and hid next to the wall so she wouldn't be seen. Lorelai peered in and when she saw her daughter lying on the bed, crying, she dropped the umbrella and her purse and immediately forgot about her coffee problems.

She rushed to her daughter's side but Rory didn't seem to even acknowledge she was even there.

"Rory?" Lorelai asked in a quiet voice.

In return she got a sound that sound like a muffled sob. Lorelai put her hand on Rory's back and rubbed it softly. "Rory? What happened?"

Rory sat up, tears and make-up running down her face. "I think we broke up…" she sobbed, bursting into tears again.

Lorelai sat there dumbfounded. That punk broke her daughter's heart! Rory was back to laying face down on the bed and crying again didn't even notice when Lorelai got up. She was about to wring this boys neck.

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**This chapter is more thoughts than dialog and everything. I thought it would be nice to talk about more of the other chapters besides just Jess and Rory. Anyways I hope you guys liked this chapter. REVIEWS ARE LOVED! Their happy-making…… ******


	7. Not His Fault

**AN: Alrighty the next chapter is done. I was actually really bored yesturday and started writting this chapter randomly in my Study Hall at school and I got a little bit of the next chapter done but I never got the chance to finish it because on of my friends kept bugging me. I'll probably get the next chapter done today or tomorrow but I might not be able to post it until Sunday because my best friend's birthday party is tomorrow and I promised her I'd be there. Anyways...here is the next chapter. Hope you all like it!****

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**

**Chapter 6 - Not His Fault**

Lorelai walked swiftly through town with a determined look on her face. She looked pissed and everyone guessed who she was going after, Dean. But little did they know she wasn't going after Dean, she was going after Jess. Lorelai thought that Jess had been the one to make her daughter so upset. Well, Jess had been part of the reason Rory was upset but it really wasn't his fault. If Lorelai should have been going after anyone it should have been Dean. But Lorelai didn't know the whole story so…here she was, trudging through town to yell at Jess.

The town's people moved out of her way as she made her way through. They knew that when Lorelai was angry she was not the person to make even angrier. It was best just to stay out of her way and not do anything to set her off.

Lorelai walked into the diner and flung the door open. Not very many people were in the diner. But the few that were there looked up at Lorelai in surprise when she walked in. Normally she would make a big entrance and do something silly but this time was different. This time she looked ready to kill.

She scanned the diner for Luke. She finally saw that Luke was in the kitchen. When he finally noticed Lorelai, he came out.

"What, no big entrance?" Luke asked her. The minute he asked her, he regretted it. Lorelai just stared at him coldly for a second and then asked, "Where is that jackass nephew of yours?"

Luke was a little bit taken aback by her response. He had thought that Lorelai and Jess had gotten along but Jess must have done something stupid and pissed Lorelai off.

"Uhh he's upstairs—" He started but got cut off.

"Thanks," she snapped and made her way up the stairs.

"Lorelai!" He called.

She stopped and turned around, her eyes burning on him. "What?" She hissed.

"What did he do? I thought you two were getting along," Luke said.

"We were. But that was until I came home today and found my daughter lying on her bed bawling her eyes out saying over and over again, "he broke up with me" and "how could this of happened" and "he said that I didn't love him". How do you think that makes me feel Luke!?" Lorelai shouted.

Luke stood there shocked. When he didn't say anything else Lorelai stomped up the stairs and flung the door to the apartment open.

Jess cringed when he saw the door open. He had heard Lorelai's yelling from downstairs. He knew that it had been coming. He didn't know how angry she was either. He didn't really feel like dealing with her right at that moment either but it sounded like Lorelai didn't know the whole story.

Lorelai walked right up to him and slapped him across the face.

You stupid jackass! How could you do that to _my_ daughter! Do you _want_ a death wish!?" She hissed.

Jess rubbed his cheek. He had never seen Lorelai so mad before. He was a little bit scared but spoke up anyways.

"What do you just assume that this is _my_ fault?" Jess said.

"Because it IS your fault. Why else would my daughter be on her bed bawling her eyes out saying that you told her that she doesn't love you and a whole bunch of other crap like that!?" Lorelai screeched.

"Have you even thought for just one second that this isn't my fault?" Jess said.

"Jess stop trying to confuse me because it's only making me more ticked off at you," Lorelai said in a cold tone.

"I'm not trying to confuse you Lorelai!" Jess yelled.

"Shut-up Jess I don't want to here it! I'm here to lecture you!" Lorelai yelled back.

"Lecture me…are you serious!" He screamed.

"Yes I am!" Lorelai said through gritted teeth.

"You're going to lecture me on how it's my fault that my girlfriend _cheated_ on me with her ex!?" He screamed at her.

"Yes I—" Lorelai stopped and looked at him in disbelief.

"I said… are you going to lecture me on how it's my fucking fault that my girlfriend cheated on me with her ex?" He said.

"But…but—" Lorelai started but Jess cut her off.

"No, you thought that I did something stupid like break up with her for the reason Dean did. You automatically assumed that it was my fault. But it wasn't!" Jess cried. Lorelai watched as his face clouded up. She had never seen him in so much pain, with so much emotion.

"Jess I…" she trailed off. What was she supposed to say?

"I watched her…" he said quietly. He slumped back down on the bed and held his face in his hands.

"I watched her…kiss Dean. Well actually he kissed her first and I was getting ready to go punch the guy but…she didn't pull away. She sat there and kissed him for like three minutes! Then she pulled away and said, 'oh my god…!' and then realized I was there and she still didn't do anything!" Jess said.

Lorelai took her hand and put it on Jess's back trying to calm him down. She couldn't believe that Jess was sitting here having an emotional break-down right in front of her. If it wasn't so serious she would have probably got a video camera or something or at least mock him but Lorelai couldn't do that. Not after she found out why he was so upset.

Lorelai felt bad. She had immediately assumed that things had happened the same way this had ended with Dean. She hadn't gone after Dean after he had done all that stuff to Rory and maybe she had taken some of that leftover anger out on Jess. She hadn't even known the whole story. Now Lorelai just felt stupid and guilty.

"Jess, you know she didn't mean it…" Lorelai said.

"That's what she said…" Jess mumbled.

"Do you believe her?" Lorelai asked softly.

"I don't know," Jess answered.

"I think you and Rory need to talk," Lorelai told him.

"I…I…I don't know if I can handle that right now," Jess choked out. His voice cracking with every word that he sputtered out.

"Why not?" Lorelai asked.

Jess shrugged and hung his head, "Because…I'm not mad at her. I know it really wasn't her fault," Jess said.

"Well then what's the matter?" Lorelai asked. She thought she already knew the answer but she wasn't sure.

"The things I said to her, you know, after I caught her and Dean…" he paused. "I said a lot of things I didn't mean. I was just so mad and so angry and so…I don't know, hurt, I guess, that I said a lot of things I regret," he mumbled.

"Then apologize to her," Lorelai said, rubbing his back a little.

"I can't do that," Jess said softly.

Lorelai looked at him with questioning eyes and he sighed and then answered her unasked question, "I can't handle knowing that she might not forgive me for the things I said," he told her. "I can't handle rejection from her because I…" he paused.

"Because you love her," Lorelai finished for him.

"Yeah. I do," he said.

"I know you do and she loves you too," Lorelai said.

"How do you know?" He asked her.

"Because….you can see it when she looks at you. You can see it when someone says your name. You can see it when she is talking about you. You can just tell. I just know Jess, you have to trust me."

Lorelai started to sit up after Jess nodded a response and mumbled an 'okay'. She patted his back softly and watched him sigh. "When your ready, go talk to her," Lorelai told him.

Jess nodded again and Lorelai walked softly to the door and opened it up and walked slowly down the stairs to a very stunned looking Luke.

She sat down at the counter wearing a soft and knowing expression. Luke was completely baffled. A few minutes ago she had the look of death in her eyes and now she looking completely understanding and caring. He was absolutely amazed.

"Did you hear everything?" Lorelai asked softly, staring at the counter.

"Most of it, especially the yells," Luke said.

"I figured. So you know why…" she stopped.

"Yeah I know…" Luke told her. "Why did she…" Lorelai cut him off.

"It's not his fault…" Lorelai said.

"I know it's not but why did she…" Lorelai cut him off again.

"It's not her fault either," Lorelai said, looking up at his eyes that were clouded with confusion.

"Well then whose fault is it?" Luke asked.

Lorelai laughed bitterly, "Who do you think?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Luke said in a perplexed voice.

"Who do you think would just love to destroy Jess and Rory's relationship? Who do you think would make Rory cheat on Jess? Who do you think would be idiotic enough to do that?" Lorelai said coldly.

Luke gritted his teeth and the word came out in a dark tone, "Dean…"

Lorelai nodded and got up from the counter and walked out the door leaving Luke to think.

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**Oooo! Review Please! Gracias Much... :)**


	8. I Hope Your Right

**AN: Wow, you guys are awesome. The reviews are great! I'm so glad you all like me story. Anyways I will probably try to update tomorrow but I'm not sure how that will go considering its my birthday tomorrow :) depends on how much stuff my friends and family have planned. I'll probably add a couple more chapters and then an epiloge and then the story will probably be finished. :( but don't worry I'm starting on another fan-fic soon. Anyways, here is the next chapter!**

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**Chapter 7 – I Hope You're Right**

Lorelai walked home and wrapped her coat around her. It was almost February and it was freezing outside. She walked home quickly and was relieved to be back in her nice, warm house. When she walked in the door she started a fresh pot of coffee. She hadn't had a cup of coffee all day and after her talk with Jess she was in a desperate need for it.

She sat down at the kitchen table and heard a shuffling noise coming from her daughter's bedroom. A minute later she watched as the door opened and Rory walked out fully dressed.

"Hey sweets," Lorelai said.

"Hey," Rory replied.

"What's with the coldness?" Lorelai asked.

Rory shrugged. "No coldness."

"Uh yeah and Kirk is going to become president of the United States. Whats wrong?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know…" Rory said quietly.

"Still upset?" Lorelai asked.

"Well yeah I'm still upset!" Rory snapped.

Lorelai looked taken aback by her daughter's coldness towards her and Rory instantly felt bad. Her mother wasn't trying to do anything bad. She was just trying to help.

"Sorry…I'm just…" Rory paused. "Not in the best of moods. But that still didn't give me the right to snap at you…" Rory said.

Lorelai nodded and answered, "Its okay. Been there, done that. Just don't pull a Mr. Freeze on mommy anytime soon okay," Lorelai grinned.

Rory grinned back for what felt like the first time in weeks, "Don't worry, I won't. I'm going over to Lane's house for a bit," Rory said.

Lorelai nodded. She knew that Rory needed to talk it over with Lane, she always did.

Lorelai grabbed her coffee and began to sip it quietly, hoping that Jess and Rory would work everything out soon.

**---**

Rory walked quickly to Lane's house. She didn't want to run into anyone that she really didn't want to run into. She reached Kim's Antiques without anyone stopping her to ask her how she was doing or anyone just wanting to chat, which she thought was a little odd but under these circumstances it was probably for the best.

She rang the doorbell and Lane answered.

"Rory!" She squealed.

"Jeez Lane!" Rory said, giving her friend a hug.

"So how are things?" Lane asked casually.

"Thing are…things are…thing---not so good…" Rory said quietly.

"Why?" Lane asked. Rory rolled her eyes; Lane obviously hadn't heard the gossip.

"I did something really stupid…" Rory said.

Lane laughed, "I'm sure you didn't—" but Rory cut her off.

"I cheated on Jess with Dean, right in front of Jess…" Rory said.

Lane stopped laughing and just stared at her friend in utter disbelief.

"I kissed Dean, right in front of Jess." Rory said.

"How could you—"

Rory cut Lane off again and said, "It was an accident. We were standing there talking and he kissed me and Jess saw and I…I didn't stop the kiss and now I've ruined everything for me and Jess," Rory cried.

Rory burst into tears and buried her face in her hands. Lane looked at Rory sympathetically.

"I always knew Dean was an ass," Lane said, "I can't believe he did that to you…" she said.

"No…it's not all his fault. It's mine. I didn't stop the kiss. I'm the reason that Jess is crushed. It's all my fault that he hates me now." Rory was bawling into her hands, so it came out in a muffled stand of words.

"Rory, Jess doesn't hate you. He could never in a million years hate you. He loves you way too much to ever think about hating you," Lane said.

"No, he doesn't. He doesn't love me anymore," Rory cried.

"Shh—yes he does Rory. He loves you so much" Lane told her.

Rory looked up with tear-stained eyes. "I don't deserve him…" she said softly.

Lane rubbed Rory's back. "It was an accident Ror. Jess will come around, I promise you," she said.

"You really think so?" Rory asked, her voice almost cracking as she said them.

Lane nodded, "I promise."

Rory buried her head back in her hands while Lane rubbed her back, trying to get her to stop crying. "I hope your right," Rory whispered.

**---**

Jess lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling. He was still thinking about the conversation he had just had with Lorelai. He had never opened up to anyone like that but Rory. He didn't even open up to Luke like that. Rory was turning him soft. But the weirdest part was; he liked the person he was becoming around her.

He rolled over on his side and stared out into empty space, thinking about all the good times he'd had with Rory. He thought about all the crazy festivals that Rory had dragged him to. He thought about all of their make-out sessions in the apartment and on the bridge.

He smirked at the thought. If Rory knew he was thinking about them making out right now she would probably be blushing.

He thought about their first kiss. He couldn't stand the fact that he would maybe never be able to hold her or kiss her or even open up to her ever again if they kept going on like this and didn't get over this fight.

He heard the door open quietly and he looked up and met a pair of eyes.

"Hey," Jess said.

Luke had just walked in from the diner. Luke looked at him sympathetically and Jess cast his eyes down to the ground. He didn't want to see the pity looks he knew his uncle was shooting at him, even though he was trying his hardest not to. Jess knew him better than that.

"Uhmm I was just wondering if you wanted anything to eat?" Luke asked him.

Jess thought a minute. He hadn't eaten anything at all that day. He had just been moping around in the apartment. Most of the time just staring into space thinking about everything or sleeping. Maybe getting up and working in the diner wouldn't be so bad.

"Actually, do you need any help downstairs?" Jess asked.

Luke's eyes lit up, "Well if you want to I guess you can refill coffees," he told him.

Jess nodded and then said, "Oh and a cheeseburger and fries will be okay," he told his uncle.

Luke nodded in agreement and the two men walked downstairs into the diner.

Jess stepped out from behind the curtain and suddenly the diner hushed and all eyes were on him. At first Jess didn't notice and looked around the diner for anything out of the ordinary but then Jess remembered that he hadn't even been out of the apartment for two days since the incident. The whole town probably knew by now.

Jess decided to ignore it. He went and picked up the coffee pot and looked up as the bell rang. Lorelai was bounding into the diner with a smile on her face but stopped when she saw Jess and had an astonished look on her face. She walked up to the counter and sat her purse down.

"Hello sleepy-head. Just wake up?" Lorelai asked.

Jess shot her a confused look and then Lorelai shot a glance at his pants. He was wearing his boxer-shorts. Something that he had ever worn before in front of anyone but Rory and Luke and now the whole entire diner.

"Aww jeez," he muttered.

"Yeah and that's not even the worst part," Lorelai grinned.

"What? I have a shirt on!" Jess said.

"Yeah but you have REALLY bad stubble. You have the whole five o'clock shadow thing going on," Lorelai laughed to herself.

Jess rubbed the side of his face and realized her hadn't shaved in three or four days. He probably looked horrible. Luke came out from the kitchen and Jess gave him a sneering stare.

"What?" Luke asked.

Jess motioned to his boxer-shorts and his stubble.

"You couldn't have mentioned to get cleaned up before I came down here?" Jess asked in an exasperated tone.

Luke frowned, "Sorry I didn't know you were just going to come down here right away. I thought you were going to get changed first," he said.

Jess scowled, "I'm going to go change. I'll be back in a while," he said.

Mrs. Patty and Babette had been sitting a few tables away and had heard the conversation.

"No need to change sweetie!" Mrs. Patty said with a seductive smirk.

Jess grimaced, "I'm defiantly going to go change."

"But sweetheart you have such nice legs. You should show them off more often," she said happily.

"Never wearing boxer's again," Jess said.

"Ooooh that's even better," Mrs. Patty smirked.

"Patty!" Jess cried out.

Luke and Lorelai were trying hard not to laugh and Jess sent them a scornful stare.

"But Jess, you really do have nice legs," Lorelai joked.

"Stay away from me! Crazy people!" Jess muttered leaving all of them bursting into laughter.

"Patty I think you scarred the poor kid for life," Babette laughed.

"It was defiantly worth it, I think. The look on his face was priceless," Luke said.

Patty grinned, "He really does have nice legs. So do you Luke."

"Aww jeez," Luke said.

"Oh my God, you two sound exactly alike," Lorelai gushed.

"Who?" Luke asked.

"You and Jess!" Lorelai grinned. "They're cousins, identical cousins!" She sang.

"Lorelai!" Luke yelled.

Lorelai grinned and went back to sipping her coffee.

---

Lorelai was leaving the diner when she ran into something. She looked and immediately frowned.

"Oh sorry Lorelai," Dean said.

Lorelai scowled at Dean.

"Don't you, 'oh sorry Lorelai' me Dean," Lorelai snapped, "I know what you did and let me tell you I'm not happy," she said coolly.

Dean frowned, "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said in an innocent tone.

"Don't lie to me, you little bastard! I know exactly what you did!" She said, raising her voice just a little bit.

"I didn't do anything Lorelai!" Dean said.

"Oh really, so you're not the reason that my daughter is moping around the house absolutely miserable or the reason why Jess is crushed and hurt!" She yelled.

"I didn't do anything Lorelai!!" Dean yelled.

"Stop lying Dean! I know exactly what you did!" She said and she reached up and slapped him across the face, hard.

"Lorelai, what the HELL was that for!?" He cried out, holding his cheek.

"You're the scum of the earth you stupid little freak. Stay away from my daughter and stay away from Jess, you have already done a hell of enough damage there," she said.

Dean was infuriated, "You can't tell me what to do! If I want to go talk to your daughter and if I want to go beat the living crap out of Jess I WILL!" He screamed.

"Oh yes, you will stay away from them or I will call the cops on you!" She said.

Dean raised a fist, he had heard enough out of her mouth. Just then someone beat him to it and was already punching him in the face and had him in a headlock.

"Don't you even think about touching her!" Jess yelled at him.

Dean looked up, bewildered. "Where the hell did you come from?" He asked confusedly.

"From inside the diner! In case you forgot, your still standing right in front of the windows and everyone just heard your guys' little screaming match. Get the hell out of town Dean or else your life is going to be fucking miserable from now on. Taylor had already fired you and you almost punched Lorelai in the face and I would leave before Luke gets out here and does some permanent damage," Jess said.

Dean tried to get a punch at Jess but Jess blocked him and got him in the gut and Dean doubled over. "Get out of here Dean!" Lorelai yelled.

Dean shook his head and got up off the ground and scampered into another direction, away from the diner.

Jess turned to Lorelai, "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm fine…" she said. "I can't believe you just did that," she said quietly.

"Well I didn't want him hurting my girlfriend's mother. We couldn't have that now, could we," he grinned.

Lorelai smiled and then replied, "No we couldn't," she said, "Go win her back Jess."

Jess nodded and took of in the direction of the bridge and Lorelai walked the rest of the way home, smiling. Jess had changed, and it was for the better.

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**Oooh, sorry cliff-hanger, sort-of. Anyways, review please ;)**


	9. Forgiveness Never Felt So Sweet

**AN:**** Hey everyone, this will be the last chapter (awwz :( sad…) but I will write an epilogue for this story because the ending is a little shaky and isn't very clear. It's the perfect ending to add an epilogue to. Anyways…after the epilogue, this story will be complete. I will probably be starting a new fan-fic. I have been writing a few but they aren't really as Gilmore Girls focused as this story is. It's actually a story from "Uglies" which is my favorite book. I've got one chapter posted so far but that's pretty much it, so far. Check it out if you haven't already, it should be on my profile it's called, 'telling the truth is always hard'. Anyways, last chapter. Hope you all like it.**

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**Chapter 8 – Forgiveness Never Felt So Sweet.**

Jess walked as fast as he could towards the bridge. He couldn't believe everything that had just happened. Dean had tried to punch Lorelai and he stopped him. The old Jess would have never done that. Well maybe he would have but he wouldn't have really cared as much as he did while it was happening.

Right now Luke was probably all over Lorelai making sure Dean didn't put any scratch on her. He was still waiting for the two of them to open up their eyes and get together.

Jess shook his head, those two were hopelessly in love with eachother and neither of them knew it. Jess knew that one day though they would realize it and then they could finally both be happy.

He wanted his happy ending too. He knew that the happy ending he wanted was with Rory though. No other girl could ever replace her or make him feel what she did. Rory was special. He had known it since the moment she had stepped on that bridge almost eight years ago.

Jess was almost to the bridge by now, he quickened his speed. The sooner he saw Rory, the better. He wanted to apologize, to tell her that he loved her and knew that she loved him too. He wanted to hold her again and argue with her about books again. He just wanted to be with her again.

As he thought about these things a smile crept up on his face. By the time he reached the bridge he had a full-out grin on his face. But when he got to the bridge, he frowned. No Rory in sight. She always came here though, why wasn't she here. Jess sat down and kicked the water with his foot. He started thinking about what Lorelai had told him the day before and everything that had happened over the past week or so. If one thing was for sure, he was going to get Rory Gilmore back.

---

Rory had been sitting on the bridge when she saw him walking at a fast pace towards the bridge. She was pretty sure that he was still mad at her and probably would not want to see her so she quickly made her way off the bridge and started down a different path, back to her house.

She started thinking about all the things that had happened over the past week or so. All she knew was that she hated fighting with Jess and all she wanted was to have him back. Rory knew that she loved him and for a moment she thought of her future and the funny part was, she couldn't even imagine her future without him in it.

She sighed. She was getting way ahead of herself. He hadn't even forgiven her yet and what was she doing, sitting around planning her future with him. She needed a distraction. Something to keep her mind off of him because at that moment he was all she was thinking about. Actually, he was all she ever thought about.

Rory left her room and made her way slowly to the kitchen to find her mom with a grin plastered on her face.

"Hey, what has you so happy? You look like you just won the jackpot. Did you win mom? If so I want a pony!" Rory said happily.

"Whoa, slow down sweets. Nobody said anything about me winning the jackpot. But if I did I would defiantly buy us a pony. Maybe even a pony farm, with lots and lots of pretty ponies," Lorelai said cheerfully.

"Well if you didn't win the jackpot what was it?" Rory asked.

Lorelai shrugged it off, "It was nothing. I'm just in a good mood."

"Did Taylor get egged again?" Rory asked.

Lorelai snorted, "No."

"Did…uhmm Luke and Taylor get into a really big fight?" Rory asked.

"Almost, but no," Lorelai said.

Rory paused and thought for a moment, "Did Kirk have another night-terror?"

"It's not even night yet," Lorelai said simply.

"Hasn't stopped him before," Rory smirked.

Lorelai grinned, "You're right but no, that's not it."

"Well…uhmmm…I don't know. Why won't you just tell me?" Rory begged.

"Because, I already told you, it was nothing," Lorelai lied.

"Fine, whatever mom, but I will find out soon enough," Rory said, finally letting it go.

Lorelai grinned, "I'm sure you will sweets," she muttered.

Rory turned back around and shot her mother a questioning stare, "What did you just say?" She asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all, sweets," Lorelai grinned.

Rory turned around and made her way into the living room getting ready to watch some TV.

Suddenly the door-bell rang.

"Mom! Will you get that!?" She yelled.

There was no answer. The door-bell rang again.

"Mom?" She called.

The doorbell didn't ring again but Rory slowly sat up and trudged towards the door. When she opened it nobody was there.

"Very funny kid! You know not to ding-dong-ditch the Gilmore's house!" She yelled.

A crunching stick caught her attention and she lifted her gaze to her sidewalk where a very sheepish looking Jess was standing. Rory's breath caught.

"Jess?" She whispered.

Jess looked up at her with a nervous expression.

"Hey…" He said softly.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"I need to—" He started but Rory cut him off. Her anger was getting the better of her.

"Why are you here Jess! First you say you want nothing to do with me and now you're here standing at my doorstep…well actually on my sidewalk. Well really its not my sidewalk or my mother's it's the towns sidewalk although I'm sure Taylor has some stupid claim over it and why in the heck am I sitting here babbling on who owns the sidewalk…" She muttered.

Jess was fighting back a smirk. Same old Rory, always rambling when we was nervous.

"I'm serious Jess. You say you don't want to talk to me and you want me to just leave and everything and well you're here now and well frankly I don't want to talk to you," she said coolly.

A look of hurt flashed across Jess's face.

"Jess I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to be hurt by you anymore. Just please…leave," she said. She turned on her heal when she was stopped by his shaky voice.

"Rory…don't. Please…don't do that," he said.

Rory stopped but she didn't turn around.

"Rory…stop and let me explain," he said softly.

"Why should I?" She answered.

He stopped for a moment. He paused for so long that Rory thought he had maybe given up and left. Typical Jess, always leaving when things got hard. Who was she kidding though, he wouldn't do that to her. Why was she acting like this? All she wanted was to be with him. Why was she hurting him like this?

Finally she heard him mumble something. She perked her ears but couldn't understand what he was saying. "What?" She asked.

"I said, 'because I love you Rory," he said, strongly and confidently this time.

Rory slowly turned around her eyes met his. "You what?" She asked softly.

"I love you," he said.

Rory rushed forward and leapt into his arms, forcing her lips upon his in a forceful and passionate kiss. Jess was absolutely shocked. He never thought she would kiss him like this but here she was, hungrily devouring his lips and what was he doing, standing like a moron. He quickly returned the favor, tugging on her bottom lip with his teeth. His arms wrapped around her, closing every possible distance between the two of them and her fingers found themselves tangled up in his unruly hair.

They pulled apart for a breath and rested their foreheads together.

"I love you too, you know that right?" She said.

Jess smirked, "I kinda figured that out when you kissed me," he said as he rubbed his nose against hers playfully.

She grinned, clutching his shoulders in her hands like it would be the end of the world if she ever let go. She gave him a soft peck on the lips and suddenly felt something on her cheek. She looked up to the sky and sure enough, there it was, tiny snowflakes falling softly to the ground. She grinned at Jess who was smirking at her.

Their lips met in the middle for a passionate kiss. Nothing mattered right now except for the fact that they were finally together.

---

Lorelai was watching from her bedroom window. She saw everything—the shyness, the fight, the makeup—everything. As she watched her daughter leap into his arms she laughed. She never thought she would see her daughter do that. She didn't hear what he had said but it must have been something big. Her daughter had sprinted half way across the lawn and jumped into Jess' arms for Pete's sake. Gilmores didn't run, unless it was urgent.

She thought about her daughter's future. She knew that Jess would be apart of their lives for a long time. Maybe even for the rest of their lives. The way she saw it, nobody could ever compare to Jess. He would always be her soul mate, even if they didn't end up together in the end.

Lorelai suddenly started thinking about her future. She wanted her soul mate. Something was tugging at her heart. She knew who her soul mate was, and after she watched Jess and Rory's make up, suddenly she didn't want to deny it anymore.

Lorelai picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number. If she was lucky maybe Rory wouldn't be the only lucky one tonight, for as they say, '_good things happen when it snows'_.

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**Anyways, I hope you all liked the ending. I loved writing this story. Stayed tuned for the epilogue, it will tell what Lorelai does, (although if you're a true fan I bet you can already guess) and what becomes of Jess and Rory's relationship. Anyways Review please, tell me what you think ;)**


	10. Their Happily Ever After

**Chapter 9 – Their Happily Ever After. (Epilogue)**

It's been five years since that day when Jess and Rory got back together and since Lorelai decided to make things right with her soul-mate. Whoever that is…but I'm sure you all know who he is. But first I'll start out with Jess and Rory.

Jess and Rory are now around 23 and are happily engaged. Jess was smart and actually went to school and he actually tried. And since he actually tried in high school he graduated high school at the top of his class, along with Rory, (who was Valedictorian). Rory and Jess decided that they wanted to go to collage together and ended up settling on Yale. Which both were both accepted to and graduated from; still at the top of their class. Their relationship went through its low times and its good times but ultimately it stayed strong. At their collage graduation Jess finally proposed and Rory said yes and now they are happily engaged. They now live in their own house in Stars Hallow and Jess now helps Andrew run the bookstore and also works part time at a publishing house not far from Stars Hallow. Rory works at a local newspaper and also helps Andrew with the bookstore whenever she can. Their life is simple but they are happy and are planning on getting married in November, probably one of the last weeks in November. Rory is hoping that it will snow on their wedding day and although he won't admit it, Jess would be thrilled if it did. Like Rory always said, 'good things happen when it snows'.

After that night when Lorelai called her soul-mate, as in which probably everyone knows is Luke, things have been going steady for them. He proposed two years after they got together and were happily married on July tenth. The whole town attended and talked about how they always knew Luke and Lorelai would end up together. Luke and Lorelai were happy. They had their first child together a year later, a girl, and named her Hayley Emma Gilmore-Danes. Their second child came a year later and it was a son, Jayden Martin Gilmore-Danes. Jayden and Emma love their big sister Rory and their cousin Jess. Rory and Jess actually baby-sit them and spend time with them a lot. Rory says it's getting them ready for when they have a baby, which both of them are excited about. Luke still runs the diner and Lorelai still runs the inn and they live together with Jayden and Emma in the house that Rory grew up in, although they did have to remodel to make more room for the kids. They are happy with their children and not a day goes by where Lorelai isn't thankful that she called Luke that night and told him that she loved him. If she hadn't where would they be now…?

As for Dean, he left town right after Rory and Jess got back together. He dropped out of high school and moved back to Chicago and since he didn't have a high-school diploma and didn't even try to get his GED he works as a janitor at one of the local schools. He isn't married and he doesn't have a girlfriend. He says it's because he never found anyone after Rory. He lives in a crappy one-bedroom apartment and is miserable.

As for the rest of Stars Hallow, the town got along just fine. Their coffee queen and the grumpy diner man got married and their town princess and the town hoodlum are now happily engaged and they are all excited. Taylor still regularly bugs Luke and Jess about decorating the diner and says that Jess is a criminal and is always doing something wrong, even though Jess hasn't pulled a prank in years. Kirk still is his crazy self but he is now married to Lulu, which everyone is surprised about because they never thought that they would ever see Kirk get married but he did and is happy, they are even expecting a child. Kirk hopes it's a boy so they can name him Kirk Jr. Gypsy still runs the auto shop and Andrew still runs the bookstore. Patty and Babette are still the gossip queens. They still have their cell-phones plastered to their ears relying gossip to one another 24/7. Even the town troubadour is still happily playing his guitar and singing his tunes. Sounds like everything and everyone in Stars Hallow is getting along just fine. They all had happy endings too.

Everything turned out fine and they all had their happily-ever-after that they had always wanted.


End file.
